


Silent Witness

by Politzania



Category: Captain America (Movies), Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Canon Divergence - Post-Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Canon Divergence - Post-Iron Man 3, Canonical Character Death, Gen, communication is key
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-09
Updated: 2018-07-09
Packaged: 2019-06-07 18:44:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,986
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15225546
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Politzania/pseuds/Politzania
Summary: In the wake of events in Malibu and  Washington DC,   Tony Stark and Steve Rogers  get together to watch a mysterious video tape.Fill for  Tony Stark Bingo Square A5: Witness





	Silent Witness

Tony turned the videocassette over and over in his hands, examining it thoughtfully and with more than a little trepidation. It had showed up in the mail last week; the envelope had no forwarding address and a postmark from Cleveland Ohio, of all places. It contained a note -- written in a near-untraceable draftman’s hand -- that read: _Be sure the Captain is by your side when you watch this_. 

It wouldn’t be that simple, not after the shitshow that had gone down in DC. Three helicarriers crashed into the Potomac, a building and the government agency it housed gone up in flames, and its seemingly indestructible Director, dead. Hydra, it seemed had been alive and well, hiding in plain sight, shielded by SHIELD. Tony supposed it was just as well that Coulson was gone, as it would have killed him to know the snake that had been hiding in that grass. 

Rogers had been in pretty bad shape by the end of it all, too, from what the papers had reported. Gutshot and beat all to hell, left for dead on the edge of the river. Rumor had it he was in the hospital for the better part of a week, probably the equivalent of a month-long stay for a normal human being, assuming they’d even have survived. 

Not surprisingly, the press quickly started wondering why the other Avengers hadn’t been brought in to assist Captain America and the Black Widow. “Where Was Iron Man?” blared the headlines, and the talking heads on the 24-hour news channels were asking much the same question. 

For one thing, Tony reflected, he’d been recovering from heart surgery. Absently rubbing at his chest, he winced at the scratch of fabric against the still-tender scar tissue. It was disorienting, waking up in the middle of the night to a completely dark room, instead of the cool blue glow he’d become accustomed to over the past few years. Odd as it might sound, he almost missed the familiar ache of the arc reactor sitting deep in his chest. But he’d made a promise to Pepper that he intended to keep. 

There was also the fact that he and Rhodey were just coming off their own little adventure saving the president. That had to qualify for a bit of down time, didn’t it? Besides, he’d blown all his suits up. Well, all the completed ones. There were a couple in-process at the Tower that hadn’t yet made it to the wine cellar; he supposed it would only be a matter of time until he was tinkering on them again. After all, even if Iron Man were retired, Iron Patriot (ugh - really?) was still alive and well. 

Lastly, Tony had his hands full after Romanoff’s data dump, trying to save the lives of innocent field agents caught in the crossfire. JARVIS was dedicating all his spare cycles to erasing their tracks, getting them to safe houses and creating new identities. The AI hadn’t yet come across any trace of Barton, who must have gone quite thoroughly to ground after the Battle of New York. Hopefully he was getting his head together; while Tony knew something of what it was like to be be a hostage, the Ten Rings had only held his body captive, not his mind. 

It had been more difficult than Tony had thought to get in touch with Rogers, now that SHIELD was in tatters. Between HIPAA regulations and over-protective nursing staff at the hospital; even the legendary Tony Stark Charm had only gotten him so far. But he had another in; he recognized the tech that Rogers’ partner on the helicarrier assault had been using. Some digging through supposedly Top Secret military files gave him a name and discharge information. From there he was able to track the guy down to his current job. 

“Sam Wilson, how can I help you?” The man’s greeting was cordial, yet professional; more or less what Tony expected from someone working in a counseling role. 

“Hi, this is Tony Stark. Yes, that Tony Stark. I understand you’re Captain America’s new bestie?” 

There was silence on the line for a moment. “Swear to god, Gardiner, if you’re jerking me around...” 

“Not a prank, Falcon.” Tony replied, using the code name for the flight pack. “You really put the Exo-Seven through its paces, didn’t you? I’d love to get your feedback for the next iteration SI is putting together.” 

“Son of a bitch,” Wilson huffed out a low laugh. “Well, Mr. Stark, to what do I owe the pleasure?” Tony explained that he needed to get in touch with Steve Rogers, and wondered if Sam could help him out. 

“As a matter of fact, your teammate is camping out in my spare room.” 

 

A few hours later, Tony’s phone rang. He glanced at the screen; it was a Washington DC number. 

“Yes?” 

“Uh, hi, Tony. It’s Steve. Steve Rogers. Sam said you wanted to talk to me?” 

“Hey, Cap. Exciting times, eh? How you feeling?” 

The sigh Rogers heaved spoke volumes. “I’ve been better.” 

“I hear that.” Tony commiserated. “So, I got something in the mail the other day. An unlabeled videotape with no return address. Just a note that said I was supposed to view it in your company. I’m kinda wondering if it’s something from Fury, you know, an ‘in the event of my death’ thing.”

“You haven’t watched it yet?” Rogers sounded skeptical.

“Believe it or not, I can show restraint when I choose.” 

“Okay.” Another heavy sigh. “I have something I need to tell you as well, and a big favor to ask. I’m going to try to catch the next train, be there in a few hours.” Tony had expected a few more questions, a little more discussion, but he could roll with it. 

“Sounds good. I’ll send my driver to pick you up.” 

 

Tony affected a casual pose as the elevator doors opened, a glass of scotch in his hand. He and Rogers hadn’t interacted much since the Battle of New York. Despite the whole cliche of friendships being forged in battle, they didn’t really have that much in common. Tony had gone back to Malibu and Rogers had ended up in DC and that had been that. But Tony had been schmoozing and gladhanding since he was a kid; he could do this. 

“Welcome back, Cap. Hell of a thing, that business in DC.” 

“Hi, Tony,” Rogers responded with tired politeness. “Yeah -- sure was. You had a bit of excitement recently yourself. You healing up okay?” 

Tony was taken by surprise, then realized that Hill must’ve passed along the news about his surgery. “More or less. Thanks for asking. So, you said you had something to tell me?”

Rogers nodded stiffly. “I spent the entire trip up here trying to figure out what to say. It’s gonna sound like something out of _Amazing Stories_.” 

“Cap, we fought an army of butt-ugly aliens and their giant armored centipedes with a god of thunder at our side. Not a whole lot is going to faze me at this point.” Tony listened as Rogers described how, during his recent adventures, he and Romanoff had ended up in an underground bunker that housed a digitized copy of one of Hydra’s most devious minds. This copy was self aware, and had proceeded to gloat about staying below SHIELD’s radar for decades. 

“It as good as told me that Hydra had been behind the accident that killed your parents,” he finished. 

“Okay, gonna need a moment or two to process that.” Tony took a gulp of his drink, followed by a deep breath. “Dad made a lot of enemies over the years, so yeah, I'm not so surprised, I guess. The whole cyber-Zola thing, though? That’s something else entirely. You sure it was destroyed?" 

Rogers nodded, grim-faced. “Someone called in a missile strike on us. Guess it was collateral damage. But that’s not all, Tony." His voice trembled with repressed emotion as he continued. "The guy who shot Fury? He was the same one that attacked Sam and Natasha and me on the overpass, and I faced him again on the helicarrier.” 

“Busy fellow.” Rogers gave him a sharp look after the flippant remark; Tony shrugged in reply. “You want my help tracking him down? So you can get answers? Or maybe a little payback?” Captain America might be above seeking vengeance, but Tony was pretty sure this was Steve Rogers talking. 

“Yes, but not for revenge. That man ... he was Bucky.” He stumbled over the name, and it took a moment for Tony to process who he was referring to. 

“Barnes? Sergeant James Buchanan Barnes? Dad said he fell off a train in the Alps back during the war -- how could it have been him?” Surely lightning hadn’t struck twice; another war hero frozen in time, then resurrected. It was true they’d never found Barnes’ body, and Howard had said that Hydra had done some experiments on the Sergeant while he’d been in that prison camp; but it seemed much more likely that Hydra’s pet assassin had been given plastic surgery to resemble Captain America’s childhood pal.

With a slow shake of his head, Steve replied, “I don’t know. But it was -- I’d swear on my mother’s grave. Hasn’t hardly aged a day.” He paused for a moment, looking down at the floor. Voice breaking a little, he added, “Bucky didn’t remember me, Tony. All he would say was that I was his mission.” 

“And you’re positive it was him, Steve? Not some sort of look-alike?” 

“Yes!” He answered fiercely, clenching his fists tightly against his thighs. “I’ve got to find him. Gotta to help him remember who he is.” Anguish clear on his teammate’s face, Tony could do nothing else but agree to help. 

“I’ll get right on it. Have JARVIS go through all the security footage we can get our hands on. Sift through the SHIELD data dump, all that good stuff. But let’s get this video thing out of the way, first.” Idly wondering where Happy had managed to scrounge up the VCR from, Tony slid the tape into the player and pressed Play. The screenful of static resolved into grainy security footage and the timestamp at the bottom of the screen chilled Tony to the bone: Dec 16 1991. 

“No,” he breathed, staring at a familiar stretch of road. “No... they told me the camera had malfunctioned, that there was no recording.” The car -- his father’s car -- careened into the frame, smashing into the wall. A motorcycle pulled up behind the crash, and as the rider dismounted, the car door swung open. Howard fell out, rising to his hands and knees in a slow crawl away from the car. 

Tony watched, frozen in place as the motorcycle rider walked over to his father. But instead of offering assistance, grabbed him by his hair and punched him viciously, over and over. It might have been an artifact of the poor quality footage, but Tony could swear the assailant’s left arm flashed metallic under the security light. After the beating ceased, the man dragged Howard’s limp body back to the car and set him back in the driver’s seat. 

The murderer then stalked to the passenger side of the car, reaching one arm inside the vehicle. Tony didn’t need to see what he was doing; he already knew the result. Feeling sick to his stomach, he moved to turn the playback off, but Steve stopped him. “Wait.” He sounded almost as shaken as Tony, his eyes fixed on the screen, watching the man walk up to the camera. They both flinched as the unknown assailant raised a gun to the camera lens and shattered it with a bullet. 

There was a moment of silence as the screen filled with static once again. “Tony,” Steve’s voice was hoarse. “That was him. That was Bucky.”

**Author's Note:**

> I know, I know, this is the third or fourth time I've made Tony watch that awful video.... I'm a horrible person. But it seemed a perfect fit for the bingo prompt. 
> 
> Come scream at me over on [ Tumblr ](https://polizwrites.tumblr.com/)


End file.
